People Divulge How Their Last Relationship Actually Ended

These birthdays were not so happy.

"He told me on my birthday that he and his ex want to try again and that they are moving in together. We were talking about getting married a week before. The funny part is he was promising her to find an apartment for them in the same time we talked about my engagement ring."

– masri_13

Birthday Bust

"I was given a day off work that happened to fall on my birthday. I told him about it, since we had planned to hang out that night. BUT I told him that while I suddenly have the day off, I'd like to still spend my morning to myself now that I had the time to relax and play some video games."

"He began screaming at me about what would 'others think' if I didn't spend my birthday with him. I said, 'it is still with you, I just got surprise time off and wanna chill a bit first.'" He then sent photos of the birthday gift he was going to give me going in the dumpster. That was the end of that."

– ventigrey

Taken Away

"She passed away from pancreatic cancer on my birthday in 2015. We built a wonderful life together and I will never stop loving her. I was truly blessed to have her as my wife."

– ItsMyView

These people were never matches to begin with.

Pattern Of Violence

"I took his abuse for a while. Like years."

"Had tried to leave him a bunch of times but never could. I was a young stay at home Mom who dropped out of highschool. I had no skills or qualifications besides childcare."

"Eventually the abuse turned from me to our daughter and that’s when I left. Didn’t care how we were going to survive but had to get her out."

– dollyprincessb

Matter Of Life Or Death

"He tried to kill me. Was a huge deal breaker."

– crazedplantlady

Bad Timing

"He proposed to me in the middle of me breaking up with him. True story."

"The reason I was breaking up with him was because I thought he was kind of controlling and didn't listen to me. So him proposing in the middle of our breakup was actually very on-brand."

– Particular_Fault1275

The Omen

"She told me that as she was leaving to drive to my place a homeless guy walked past, looked at her and shook his head and that it was a sign from God that we should break up. I wish I was kidding."

– Whosagoodboyyyyyy

The Drug Addict

"Ex was a drug addict and when we started dating was pushing drugs onto me. Pretty soon I was hooked. After 2 years I escaped and got clean. He found my new apartment and traveled 6 hours to beg me to take him back saying he was clean. I'm an idiot so I believed him."

"Within 2 months he had cleaned out my bank account, robbed my apartment, wrecked one of my cars and stole the other. I called his mother and gave her my deal: he could keep the car, I would release interest on it and not call the cops if I never heard from or saw him again. Shortly after, I met my husband and we've been together for 10 years. I haven't heard a peep from my ex and I don't regret making that deal."

– deeznutz066

It was time to move on without the other.

"It Is What It Is"

"I was a fool. I was unhappy with myself and I think I externalized that and assumed I was unhappy with the relationship. It's not that there weren't problems, weren't problematic differences, weren't things I wished could have been better, but little did I know looking back that in many ways it would be my best relationship. There was so much that she was and that she did that I couldn't see, took for granted. Even though things had hugely improved between us, I wasn't letting go of past hurt, and dragging it along to frustrate our then present."

"We parted somewhat mutually, both feeling like the relationship wasn't going anywhere. She spoke the phrase that captured it all, 'It is what it is.' And so she moved out, got her own place. I'd imagined we'd stay close, maybe try to reboot things having left our baggage behind. But she, quite reasonably, didn't want that, wanted more of a clean break."

"And so we stopped communicating, except on rare occasions. I found out she started dating someone new. I was happy for her. The jealousy would come later. She once asked me, months later, if I ever regretted breaking up. I said no, but the truth was a lot more complicated than that. Some part of me will always wonder about the life I too carelessly gave up."

"Ah well, the pain of undoable elections, unwindable histories. Life moves on, new choices get made, get lived with, and interwoven in those new lives are bits you are grateful for and don't want to unbear. Still, you don't forget. I hope she's well, I haven't spoken to her in a long age, she created a new family, moved to Peru."

– paconadamas

Lessons Learned

"We were no longer compatible. We met in our early to mid twenties and after 4-5 years we both realized we wanted different things. I learned a huge lesson from the relationship to trust your intuition when you are no longer happy."

"I needed to draw boundaries and prioritize my needs first and when it was clear she no longer can give what I wanted long term I realized I had to let her go. I still have the memories but it was a tough pill for me to swallow."

– SlightlyConfusedGuy

It Was Nice Knowing Ya

"We hit a glass ceiling. We work well as friends, we worked well casually dating, but didn't work as a couple. Our respective day-to-day lifestyles didn't mesh; for one to be happy the other had to be miserable, so we went our separate ways."

"No harm, no foul, it happens."

– foxden_racing

Dodging A Bullet

"She moved to a different state and joined a cult."

– Zinope121

Very Texan

"She dumped me, moved out, literally took my truck and my dog, most Texas thing ever so I moved to Nyc."

– Bbwpantylover

These guys were not someone you'd take home to meet mother.

It Ended With A...

"With a restraining order."

"I was in a pretty emotionally abusive relationship, and I was getting closer with a coworker who I realized I had feelings for. I decided I was tired of being constantly afraid of my ex, so when I went to work that morning, I decided I'd break things off with him after 3 years. He didn't take the news particularly well. He called and left several threatening voicemails from different numbers. I blocked all of them. When I wouldn't answer his calls or texts, he broke into my apartment. When I wasn't there (still at work), he showed up at my job and my manager had to call the cops to get him to leave. The cops listened to the voicemails and gave me a case number to take to small claims court so I could get a restraining order."

"That was 5 years ago. I ended up dating my coworker. We joke that our first date was the following morning when he drove me to the courthouse for the restraining order. We got engaged yesterday, so I'd say it worked out alright."

– orangejello1984

False Accusation

"She accused me of being her stalker and left me ... For the man who it was later revealed to be her stalker !"

– Ireallyamthisshallow

The Hypocrite

"Together for 4 years. He started accusing me of cheating on him, making my life hell. Turns out he was cheating with someone he met at work and they had been 'in a relationship' for weeks."

– schwiffttyy

"Not Ready"

"He left me saying his head wasn’t all the way in the relationship and said he’d come back whenever he felt 100% ready. Literally like two weeks later he told me he actually lost interest and less than a month later he was with this girl who had rejected him prior."

– MielMogu

COVID Companion

"She cheated on me with her cousin after a year of dating. After Covid hit he was the only guy she was around during quarantine. Still devastated."

– PennyLaneTheBeagle

Navigating relationships are tough, especially after you've been burned once before.

But don't lose hope. Because no matter how cynical you become about finding true love, I firmly believe there is someone for everyone.

And while clichés about the right person coming into your life at the right time is trite, there is some truth to that. At least I think so.

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